Agony and Ecstasy
by Gohan Roxas
Summary: Kairi is part of a group of your average, run-of-the-mill world-savers. But why is she suddenly falling for this geeky guy named Sora? And who's this masked man who seems to be hell-bent on stopping them? AU. SoKai. Rated T for violence and language, and yes, I mean swears. ON HIATUS.
1. Encounter

_**I hate it when I get an idea, then suddenly HAVE to write it. It's kinda annoying.**_

"Kairi, stop daydreaming and get to work!"

The shouting voice snapped her out of her daze, a daze she'd put herself into on purpose. Here she was, a highly-trained warrior, working as part of a team of four other girls, committed to saving the world…

…working in a restaurant as a waitress.

"Kairi!" the voice came again.

"I'm coming, Xion!" Kairi yelled back. She bolted back to the counter.

Her friend, the dark-haired Xion, gave her a hard look. "You ready to work now?"

"Shut up," Kairi said sweetly.

**KH**

Aqua, another of Kairi's friends, turned the sign on the door over to read "CLOSED". She turned back to the three other girls. "Ready?" she asked.

"Yeah," the three replies came back.

As a group of four, they walked to the door of the cool room. Calmly, Aqua opened it and they walked inside.

Except they weren't walking into a cool room. They were walking into their top-secret base.

They were greeted by a tall, scarred man with dark hair. He was their employer, Eraqus. "Ladies," he inclined his head, indicating the four chairs in front of his desk, which the girls all happily sat in.

"Prudence demands that I once again brief you on your mission," Eraqus began.

"But…" the blonde of the quartet started.

"Please, Naminé, just this once, let me do this."

Naminé sunk deeper into her chair, wounded.

"Now," the man continued, "you all know that the nefarious group known as Organization XIII plans to take over the world, starting with us here in Hollow Bastion."

"Why is it always 'take over the world'?" Xion asked melodramatically. The other three girls giggled.

"Indeed," Eraqus continued, unfazed. "Fortunately, I have brought the four of you here to form a team dedicated to stopping Organization XIII…the Keybladers."

The four girls beamed at one another.

"Now, you will have your first major test. Organization XIII have gotten their hands on a powerful weapon known as the χ-blade. They have it stored in a warehouse just outside the city. I need the four of you to sneak in and disable it."

"Doesn't sound too hard," Kairi said, an impish grin on her face.

Eraqus smiled slightly. "Go. And please, do not fail."

**KH**

The warehouse was massive. If this 'χ-blade' was the only thing in it, the thing must have been pretty damn big.

Kairi glanced at Xion, who was on another part of the roof. She nodded slightly. Like the others, Xion was wearing all-black clothing; not too tight, not too loose. Perfect for the job.

As one, they all moved through small holes in the roof, elegantly rappelling down to the floor. Kairi got a quick look around. Other than her friends, there was nothing in the entire warehouse.

"What the hell?" Aqua stated what everyone else was thinking.

"Oh good," a man's voice, smooth as velvet, crooned from the general vicinity of the roof. "You're all here. I was starting to worry you weren't going to make it."

"Who's there?" Kairi shouted.

The voice laughed. "Feisty. I like that." There was the slight sound of movement as a man jumped from a rafter onto the floor, landing expertly.

His costume, Kairi thought, was both ridiculous and fetching. He was wearing a full black suit, complete with bow tie, and a black trilby adorned his head. His hands were covered by plain white gloves. On his face was a black mask that covered the area around his face around his eyes, which glinted mischievously. His smile was more of a sarcastic smirk.

"Who the hell are you?" Xion demanded.

The man laughed again. "You can call me Hero, if you please." He gave them a sardonic bow.

"What are you doing here? And where's the χ-blade?" Naminé shouted at him.

Hero's smile grew broader. "I'm here to stop you. As for the χ-blade…" He laughed. "It was never here."

"What?" Kairi yelled.

"You heard me, _mon cher_," Hero said mockingly. "My employers, Organization XIII, leaked that information about the χ-blade's location on purpose, to lure you here. Then it was my job to eliminate you. Part One is complete. Now…" He grinned. "On to Part Two." He lunged at Naminé, who was closes to him.

Naminé wasn't expecting the rush, so the blow to her neck went unblocked and knocked her out immediately.

Yelling, Aqua lashed out at Hero with a quick kick, which he elegantly dodged. He swept her feet out from under her, causing her to fall. Her head landed heavily on the ground, rendering her comatose.

Xion simply began to lash out with punch after punch, aiming at Hero's still grinning face. He deflected each one before landing a quick jab to her windpipe. Xion choked and gripped her throat, allowing Hero to do the same thing to her that he'd done to Aqua.

Then he looked straight at Kairi. "Your turn, _belle dame_."

Kairi moved quickly, kicking and punching at her adversary with amazing speed. To his credit, Hero blocked every single one.

Kairi then went for a heavy kick to his head. Hero used his right arm to block it, but when his arm collided with Kairi's leg, he grimaced in pain. Evidently some of the bones in his arm had broken.

Cursing under his breath, Hero used his left hand to hurl punches at Kairi, who deflected each one before landing her own powerful blow to his sternum, sending him reeling. Kairi gave him a smug look and turned away.

Suddenly, he was right in front of her. Kairi braced herself for the imminent attack.

But it didn't come. Instead, Hero grabbed the back of her head with his left hand and kissed her. Surprising herself, Kairi lost herself in the kiss. When it ended, she found herself saddened by the fact.

Hero smiled. "Another time, _mon amour_." He suddenly leaped away, leaving Kairi standing there, bewildered.

**KH**

Hero cradled his broken arm as he landed on the roof of a nearby house. In his mind, he both cursed the auburn-haired girl and marvelled at her strength. He should have taken her out first.

"Was your mission a success?" a voice asked from the shadows. Startled, Hero turned, wincing as he did. Out of the shadow walked a man in a long black coat.

"Not exactly," Hero said ruefully. "I took out Blue, Blonde and Black, but Miss Auburn wasn't so easy. Look at this," he added mournfully, raising his cradled arm for his employer to see. "She broke my arm!"

The man seemed indifferent to Hero's plight. "We can heal you. Or at least give you the means to heal yourself."

Hero grimaced at the pain in his arm. "I think I'd rather heal myself." He looked at the man with his deep blue eyes. "No offence, but you and your buddies kinda creep me out."

The man grunted and threw a small syringe at him. "That will heal your arm by the morning. Don't ask me how. That knowledge is a secret known only to Organization XIII."

"Fine."

The man vanished into the shadows.

Grimacing again, Hero plunged the syringe into his arm. Miraculously, and painfully, he felt the bones cracking back into place.

"That's a little better," he said to himself, wincing.

Hero removed his black trilby, then his mask. Under the hat he'd been hiding spiky brown hair.

_**Is it just me, or is this kinda like "Sailor Moon" meets "Charlie's Angels", but with KH characters?**_

_**Please REVIEW! :D**_


	2. Normality

_**Here we go again. This one's not as, well, good as the first one.**_

"Remember girls," Eraqus told them from the black van, "behave yourselves."

"Sure thing!" Naminé said enthusiastically as she closed the door. Eraqus smiled at them and drove off.

"He's taking this whole 'foster dad' cover way too seriously," Xion remarked.

Aqua laughed.

"I think it's nice," Kairi added sweetly.

Xion gave her a look. "Just for that, I'm ignoring you until tonight."

"Oh come on!"

Aqua giggled again. "Relax, Kai. It's just school."

Kairi huffed. "But why do we have to go to school when we're…you know…"

"Yes I do know, but the point is that no-one else can."

The auburn-haired girl sighed. "Fine."

Wordlessly, Xion turned to enter the school. Grinning, Naminé followed, waving at Kairi as she left. Aqua looked back briefly and nodded her head slightly before following the others.

Kairi raised an eyebrow. _Way to be unobtrusive, Aqua_, she thought.

THUD! She felt herself collide with another person's body, then the ground.

"Oh man, I am _so_ sorry," a boy apologised. Shaking herself back into the real world, she looked at him. He was a boy of medium height, looking about the same age as her. His eyes were a deep blue and were surmounted by a pair of thin-rimmed glasses. He wore the white and blue uniform in a relaxed fashion, with the tie half-undone. His hair was brown, and impossibly spiky.

"Uh, hello?" he asked, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Huh?" she asked, bewildered.

"You…were, uh…staring at me."

"I was?" _Wait, am I blushing?_ "Sorry."

"It, uh…" He chuckled. "It's no big deal." He was also blushing. He cleared his throat suddenly and bent down to pick up her books. He then extended his hand to her, offering her his help. Gratefully, Kairi took it and got up.

"I'm Sora," the boy offered. "Sora Hikari."

Kairi had not let go of his hand. To cover the fact, she shook it. "Kairi Hart."

"Nice to meetcha, Kairi Hart." He grinned, but the grin soon faded. "Are you…gonna let go of my hand?"

"Oh! Sorry!" She bashfully stopped shaking his hand and walked towards the door of the school. Sora didn't follow immediately.

"Kairi, huh?" he murmured. "That's a name I'm not likely to forget." He rushed to the door.

**KH**

When school finished, Kairi just managed to catch Eraqus' van before it drove off without her.

"What took you so long this morning?" Aqua asked, sounding annoyed.

"She met a boy," Eraqus said suddenly.

Kairi stared at the back of the driver's seat. "How did you…"

Eraqus laughed. "I'm your father. I'm supposed to know these things."

This got groans from the passengers, causing Eraqus to laugh even harder. When he calmed down, he got to business. "So what exactly happened last night?"

"They knew we were coming," Xion replied morosely. "That intel you got about the χ-blade was planted by the Organization. They had a guy there waiting for us."

Naminé nodded. "Hero."

"He took us out," Aqua added lamely. "Everyone except Kairi."

Looking away from the road briefly, Eraqus raised an eyebrow.

"I broke his arm," Kairi shrugged modestly.

"Good work," Eraqus chuckled.

**KH**

The black-robed man found Hero leaning back on a tree. He scowled behind the hood. He really didn't like the masked man. His face was annoying. To him, Hero looked like someone had drowned his goldfish.

Hero looked up when he saw one of his employers. "You're late."

The man grumbled and threw back his hood. His brown hair was in a long ponytail and was streaked with grey. He had a scar running down his face, and an eye patch covered his left eye-socket. His one eye was a bright yellow.

Hero's eyes widened. "So you're the famous Braig, are you?"

"You know me?" Braig was surprised.

Hero shrugged. "I do my research."

"The Superior isn't happy that you screwed up last night."

"I did _not_ screw up."

"Whatever," Braig shrugged off the other man's indignation. "This time, the Superior wants one of us to join you. And an observer."

"An observer?" Hero raised his eyebrows behind his mask.

Braig scowled visibly. "The man he wants to send is an amateur. The observer will be there to make sure he doesn't…for lack of a better term…fuck it up."

Hero whistled at Braig's profanity. "Now I see why you're the _famous_ Braig. Or should that be infamous?" He chuckled slyly.

"Shut up," Braig scowled again.

Hero laughed openly as he walked off.

"Don't let your emotions get in the way!" Braig called after him. "Don't you go falling for that girl!"

Hero stopped. "I'm not the one who's falling." He looked back with a smug look on his face. "She is."

_**Please REVIEW!**_


	3. Complications

_**I sometimes feel guilty when writing stories if I have others that are unfinished. I'll try to get some chapters up for Reformation and Life in Kingdom Hearts soon.**_

_**I should probably mention that I don't own the books by John Green (as in I don't own the rights to them), nor do I own the song "Call Me Maybe" (thankfully) or the "Doctor Who" theme.**_

"You're dressed up," Xion marvelled as she walked in, spotting Kairi in her good pink dress.

"I have a date."

"With this Sora guy?"

Kairi nodded.

"He seems so awkward at school. How did he bring up the courage to ask you?"

"He didn't," Kairi disagreed, "I did."

"You _what?_" Aqua asked in disbelief.

"What?" the auburn said, confusion on her face. "I like him."

The doorbell rang. There was a pause. It rang again.

Kairi rolled her eyes. "That'll be him."

"Have fun!" Eraqus shouted, which caused everyone else to laugh.

When Kairi opened the door, Sora was fidgeting. He wore simple blue jeans and a black T-shirt with Woody Guthrie on it. Above Guthrie on the shirt was white text: _This Machine Kills Fascists_.

"I didn't know you were a Guthrie fan," Kairi marvelled, surprised.

"I'm not," Sora admitted lamely. "It's a reference to one of my favourite books."

"Which one's that?"

"Uh, _Paper Towns_. John Green."

Kairi's eyes widened. "I love his books!"

"You do?" Sora grinned happily.

Kairi nodded enthusiastically. "_Looking for Alaska_'s my favourite."

"Hey, me too!" Sora's watch beeped suddenly. He checked it briefly, then extended his arm to Kairi. "Are you ready?"

Kairi linked arms with him and pecked him on the cheek, causing him to blush. "Honey, I was _born_ ready."

**KH**

Roughly two hours later, the two of them walked out of the movie theatre, turning their phones back on as they walked.

"I am so glad you picked that movie, Sora," Kairi said cheerfully, clutching his arm. "I've wanted to see that for so long!"

"Haha, me too," Sora replied. "I just couldn't find the right person to go with."

Kairi grinned at him. Suddenly, the tune of _Call Me Maybe_ began to emanate from her handbag. Sora raised one eyebrow.

"I don't actually like the song," Kairi said lamely.

Sora looked as if he was about to dispute that when his phone went off in his pocket. This time it was Kairi's turn to give him a quizzical look. "The _Doctor Who_ theme?"

"What? It's cool." He flipped open his phone even as Kairi slid her finger over the screen of hers.

"Hello?" they said in unison. They both listened briefly. "Got it. On my way." They both hung up at the same time, looking briefly at each other before laughing.

"I gotta go," Kairi said lamely.

"Me too," Sora replied, imitating her intonation perfectly.

Kairi laughed and hit him quickly on the arm. He was more muscular than she thought. She quickly kissed him on the cheek again, then ran back home.

Sora watched briefly before running off in the opposite direction.

**KH**

"You're early," Hero said to the two black-hooded men as he arrived.

"No, you're just late," the shorter of the two replied. He pushed back his hood to reveal spiky blonde hair. His eyes were just as blue as Hero's were. "I'm Roxas." He extended his hand.

Hero shook it. "Nice to meet you, Roxas. I'd tell you my name if it weren't for the fact it's a secret."

Roxas laughed. The taller man chuckled lowly as he pushed back his own hood. His deep red hair flared behind his head, giving his head the appearance of a falling star. His eyes were a deep green, and he had diamond-shaped purple marks under each of them. "The name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

"Sure do," Hero shook Axel's hand. "I have a good memory."

"You should hope so."

Hero raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

**KH**

"So what're we looking for exactly?" Kairi asked, once again wearing her action gear. "Eraqus wasn't exactly giving me detailed information."

"Just that he's got a hint that Organization XIII's base could be hidden somewhere around here," Naminé replied.

A familiar laugh filled the air. "You fell for it again? I was expecting more, _mesdames_." The man walked out from his place of concealment; it was Hero.

"Wait, how is your arm OK? I broke that!" Kairi asked him, confused.

Hero laughed. "That's for me to know, _mon amour_, and for you to never find out." As he spoke, two black-robed men walked out and stood on either side of him.

"Who are your Goth friends?" Xion asked in a tone hovering on insult.

Hero smiled. "These fine gentlemen are two of my employers."

"Organization XIII?" Aqua shouted.

Hero clapped ironically. "_Bravo, ma chère dame_," he congratulated her, his tone tinged with sarcasm. "They're here to keep the three of you occupied."

"Three?" Kairi asked. "There are four of us."

The masked man grinned and looked at her. "Precisely." He rushed her.

Kairi was expecting it. She blocked every punch he threw, attempting her own counter-strikes on occasion; Hero blocked every one.

Kairi once again went for a kick similar to the one that had broken Hero's arm in their last encounter, but Hero dodged it rather than blocking it. "You'll have to do better than that, _ma rose_," he grinned. He launched a complicated series of strikes, aiming for her head. Kairi raised both of her arms to block the blows.

Hero raised his arm as if to deliver a haymaker to the top of her head; Kairi instinctively raised her arms to block it.

Grinning triumphantly, Hero suddenly dropped his hand and moved it towards her stomach.

His fist encountered Kairi's two hands. Hero looked at her, puzzled. This time, she was grinning.

She twisted his arm, causing him to flip over. As he did, Kairi punched him in the stomach, winding him. He landed with a heavy thud, staring up at her.

Kairi smiled sweetly. "Sorry. Looks like you lose this round."

"Perhaps." Hero suddenly jumped up and grabbed Kairi's left hand. "But the battle is far from over." He kissed her hand; he grinned internally when he felt Kairi's skin become covered in goose-bumps.

"_Adieu, mon amour_," he said then. He looked up at his two partners. "Boys, we're done here."

Hesitantly, they moved away. The shorter of the two looked briefly at Naminé before joining Hero. Together, the three of them vanished into the shadows.

_**Please REVIEW!**_


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